Gaming machines, such as slot machines, video poker machines, and the like, have been a cornerstone of the gaming industry for several years. Generally, the popularity of such machines with players is dependent on the likelihood (or perceived likelihood) of winning money at the machine and the intrinsic entertainment value of the machine relative to other available gaming options. Where the available gaming options include a number of competing machines and the expectation of winning each machine is roughly the same (or believed to be the same), players are most likely to be attracted to the most entertaining and exciting of the machines.
Consequently, gaming terminal operators strive to employ the most entertaining and exciting terminals available because such terminals attract frequent play and, hence, increase profitability for the operators. Thus, in the highly competitive gaming terminal industry, there is a continuing need to develop new types of games, or improvements to existing games, that will enhance the entertainment value and excitement associated with the games.
One concept that has been successfully employed in existing gaming terminals to enhance player entertainment is the use of progressive games. In the gaming industry, a “progressive” game involves collecting coin-in data from participating gaming device(s) (e.g., slot machines), contributing a percentage of that coin-in data to a progressive jackpot amount, and awarding that jackpot amount to a player upon the occurrence of a certain jackpot-won event. A jackpot-won event typically occurs when a “progressive winning position” is achieved at a participating gaming device. If the gaming device is a slot machine, a progressive winning position may, for example, correspond to alignment of progressive jackpot reel symbols along a certain payline. The initial progressive jackpot is a predetermined minimum amount. That jackpot amount, however, progressively increases as players continue to play the gaming machine without winning the jackpot. Further, when several gaming machines are linked together such that several players at several gaming machines compete for the same jackpot, the jackpot progressively increases at a much faster rate, which leads to further player excitement.
Another concept that has been employed is that of a secondary or “bonus” game which may be played in conjunction with a “basic” game. The bonus game may include any type of game, either similar to or entirely different from the basic game, and is initiated by the occurrence of certain pre-selected events or outcomes of the basic game. Such a bonus game has been found to produce a significantly higher level of player excitement than the basic game alone because it provides an additional chance to play, which increases the player's overall expectation of winning.
In many existing gaming terminals, the basic game and the bonus game are played on an individual, stand-alone basis wherein each player plays and wins at his or her own gaming terminal without any active involvement or participation from other players at other gaming terminals. In other more recent developments in the gaming industry, provisions have been made for group play and/or group communication, such as disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 60/570,583 (titled “Bank Wagering Game”), 10/369,021 (titled “Communication Between Players At Gaming Terminals”) filed Feb. 19, 2003, and 10/612,478 (titled “Gaming Machine Having A Community Game With Side Wagering”) filed Jul. 2, 2003, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
In the traditional, non-machine based casino wagering games, such as poker and blackjack, it has been observed that often-times players are selective about the persons with whom they play. Often, incoming players are given the benefit of the doubt and are welcomed until and unless the incoming player places a bet or commits an act that negatively impacts the other players. One example of this is a player in blackjack who has two face cards showing and chooses to split, thereby taking a risk that they will not end up with an equal hand, instead of forcing the dealer to try to beat the pair of face cards. If such player ends up with two hands each having a face card and a lower ranked card, then the dealer may not need to take extra hits or cards to try to beat such combinations, whereas for the original hand, the dealer would have been forced to try to beat the hand and would likely have ended up losing, to the benefit of all of the other players who might have had lesser hands.
A similar dynamic is present with any group gaming system, whether in the traditional, non-machine based casino wagering games or in the group video, electronic, or machine-based wagering games. After a short period of group play, wherein each player observes each other player's style of play and choices, each player either develops a level of comfort and trust in that individual, maintains an indifference to that individual, or develops a dislike for such individual, for whatever reason. Presently little recourse is available to players who do not connect with their co-players and each player is faced with the option of having to stay at a table or machine wherein they must endure some aspect of another person's play that they dislike or they must leave the table in search of other tables or games.
Accordingly, what is needed is a gaming terminal that is capable of providing increased excitement and entertainment value over existing gaming terminals. More specifically, what is needed is a gaming terminal that can permit unilateral selection for developing a group or team.